This study is focused on the taxonomy and evolution of the mushroom genera, Leucoagaricus and Leucocoprinus. These fungi, which are closely related to the grocery store mushroom, are litter decomposers in native forests throughout the world and neotropical leaf-cutter ants grow them for food in the oldest agricultural system on earth. Many species in the USA are still undescribed, despite being abundant and widespread. Species will be investigated and described in California, Hawai'i, Panama and Thailand, identification tools will be developed and results will be published in scientific journals. Relationships between species and positions in their family, the Agaricaceae, will be elucidated with molecular markers and phylogenetic analyses.
Taxonomy, classification, and identification infrastructure have an intrinsic impact on fields such as ecology, conservation biology, and agriculture. The work described here will provide identification tools for an important group of saprotrophs that interact directly with tropical ecosystems via carbon cycling, and indirectly with new world tropical agricultural systems via their symbiosis with the attine ants, whose economic impact is huge. The training of students will build the human resources necessary to propel this type of work into the future, while outreach to the non-professional public will broaden support for basic scientific research.
